Biography
Michael John Nelson (born October 11, 1964 in St. Charles, Illinois) is an American comedian and writer who lived in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota but has recently moved to San Diego. Nelson was the head writer of the cult television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 for most of the show's 11-year run, and spent half of that time playing the on-air host, Mike Nelson. Series creator and former host Joel Hodgson reportedly chose Nelson to be his replacement because he thought Nelson was a natural leader, a gifted comedian as well as a gifted musician and also that Nelson simply looked good standing next to the show's puppets.
Since the series ended, he has worked steadily as a writer, publishing several books (as of March 2006): Mike Nelson's Movie Megacheese, Mike Nelson's Mind over Matters and Mike Nelson's Death Rat!, the last being his first novel. His other literary works include a series of pop culture humor books, Happy Kitty Bunny Pony, Goth-Icky, and Love Sick. He also wrote for the shortlived game show Let's Bowl, which gained a cult following of its own. He has provided humorous and informative commentary tracks for DVD releases of several films, including Reefer Madness, House on Haunted Hill, and Plan 9 from Outer Space. With his MST3K co-stars Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett, he is part of a comedy team called "The Film Crew" which has created comedy segments for NPR. DVDs are planned.
Nelson is a talented comedic actor who can portray both male and female characters, and is known for his goofy charm and classically Midwestern appearance (being tall, broad-shouldered and blond). He is married to fellow MST3K writer Bridget Jones, and the pair have two sons.
In 2006, Nelson was appointed Chief Content Producer for Legend Films. He will be responsible for building and leading the company's creative content, providing on-going commentaries and developing other premium web-based programming. "I'm very excited. Legend Films is such a great fit for me – talented people who consistently put out a great product. Plus there are Flaming Hot Cheetos in the lunch room vending machine. That made it an easy choice to join the team," enthused Nelson. One of the projects put together by Nelson and Legend Films was RiffTrax, a website offering the purchase of downloadable audio commentaries. The first commentary made available through the service was for Road House.
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